Ahmad Rashad, dreamer and devoted son, nodded yes again as he recounted the moment this week, looking out across USC's Loker Stadium and the track he chases after his mother's voice each weekday afternoon, his eyes and voice revealing both his determination and loss.

He has done his best to keep the promise.

Rashad, now a senior at USC, is the favorite to become the first Pac-10 sprinter since 1996 to win the NCAA 100-meter title and one of the brightest prospects in a new generation of American sprinters.

Already this season Rashad has blazed a wind-aided 10.08-second 100 at the Mt. SAC Relays April that surprised even his coaches given the ease with which he ran and the lack of speed work he had done to that point of the season.

"Well within himself," USC coach Ron Allice said.

Rashad's surprising early season form and rare potential has placed James Sanford's 30-year-old Trojan school 100 record of 10.02 on the endangered species list for Saturday's UCLA-USC dual meet at Drake Stadium on the Westwood campus (12:10 p.m.).

"I don't see any limits on his ability," Trojan sprints coach John Henry Johnson Jr. said.

Rashad, the 2009 NCAA 100 runner-up, is not only driven by his desire to fulfill the promise to his mother but also by a determination to provide hope to a place so devoid of it, his hometown of Flint, Michigan.

"Flint has had a lot of hits compared to other cities," said Kevin Rashad Sr., Ahmad's father, a retired United Auto Workers official. "A lot of urban blight, a lot of home foreclosures. Ahmad would just like to give Flint some sunshine, a ray of hope."

The unemployment rate in Flint reached 27.3 percent in 2009. In the 1970s, a General Motors plant in Flint had 80,000 workers. By 2006 the plant employed 8,000. Flint in recent years has ranked No. 4 on a list of the nation's most dangerous cities although murder and other violent crime statistics have dropped.

Flint received some much needed good news last fall when Rashad's friend and old high school rival Mark Ingram, the Alabama running back, won the Heisman Trophy. Rashad would also like to lend his hand in repairing the city's image by adding to its trophy case.

"Not a lot of positive going on back there," said Rashad, named after the other Ahmad Rashad, the former Oregon and NFL star and one his father's favorite football players. "I do want to show that something positive can come from that place,"

Rashad's commitment to his hometown was instilled into him and his brothers at a young age by their parents. Kevin Rashad Sr. started the successful Stick Shift Track Club that teaches kids about more than just running fast. Ahmad Rashad would also like to repay a debt to a community that embraced him and his family at the toughest point in his life.

Kathryn Rashad-Garvins, 44, was buried the afternoon before the opening day of the 2005 Michigan state high school track meet. Two days later, Ahmad Rashad, the promise to his mother fresh in his mind, won the 100, 200 individual titles and ran on the winning 4x400-meter relay. He came within inches of winning a fourth title on the 4x100 relay. By the end of the meet, he was so emotionally drained and physically exhausted that he had to be carried off the track. In those trying days a stranger would also reach out to Rashad and his family.

Ahmad Rashad, the ex-player turned sportscaster, called the younger Ahmad after hearing about the family's tragedy. The elder Ahmad Rashad had also lost his mother to pancreatic cancer. The younger Rashad and his father were Rashad's guests at the NBA Finals in Detroit a few weeks later.

"It was a really tough process," said Rashad, whose grandmother Haneefa Rashad, recently lost her battle with cancer. "I had so many friends and family that came to support me at that time. That overwhelming support helped me to get through that.

"There were hard times where I would cry after a track meet and there were a lot of times people couldn't tell that I was hurting because I could hide it so well but inside it hurt really bad. It was a really process to go through. Sometimes I'm not even sure how I got through some of those days. A lot of times I think I tried to keep my focus on the track because that's what she wanted me to do."

Before each race Rashad settles into the starting blocks, and then raises both arms above his head and with each hand points to the sky, one hand acknowledging his grandmother, the other his mother and a promise. And then at the command "Get set" he leans forward, ready to bolt, listening for the starter's pistol and a mother's voice.

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